Gale's Story

Gale Babili

International Hospitality and Tourism Management FdA

*Today's closest equivalent of Gale's course

Training young people in Botswana

Gale is playing a pivotal role in developing hospitality and culinary arts training in Botswana on behalf of the country's government - and it all started at University College Birmingham.

Galeichubeloe Nnana Babili is the Principal Technical Education Officer in the Ministry Of Education and Skills Development in the southern African country. In this role, she is directly responsible for providing the training for young people to excel in the industry and is developing the curriculum for hospitality operations and culinary arts taught in the technical colleges at diploma level. 

Decades earlier, she stumbled across University College Birmingham in Hong Kong.

When she saw she could study for a Higher National Diploma in Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management, she did not hesitate and within months, and with the help of a government scholarship, she had moved to the UK and started the course.

A major attraction of the course was the 48-week placement, compared to shorter placements offered elsewhere. “I learned such a lot, moving around departments in the hotel and put theory into practice," she said. "It really added to the overall education experience.

“It made me realise there is real life in the hospitality industry, I was meeting different people from diverse cultures – and it gave me the opportunity to learn from them.”

Becoming a government employee and passing on her expertise is a dream come true for Gale. But a government role wasn’t in her mind when she left Birmingham.

“College helped me get my first job in Botswana," she said. "What is today its Hired team helped me set up my CV and prepared me for interviews. I arrived back in Botswana in July and by August, I had got a job.”

Gale is now coordinating the formulation of hospitality programmes for technical colleges offering Foundation, Certificate, Advanced Certificate and Diploma accreditations. "What I learned at University College Birmingham is what I am implementing here," she said. "It was the foundation for what I am doing now.

“To today’s students, I would say that they have chosen a good college where if they need help, it is always there for them. I learned that studying in a place like Birmingham, especially at the college, was a privilege.

“I met students from different countries and that made learning fun and easy to manage. I wouldn’t hesitate to come back to Birmingham and University College Birmingham."

As a final word of advice to today's students, she added: “Be open to possibilities, use time wisely and concentrate on your studies."

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